Sandal restore some pride but run into red-hot Scunthorpe spell

The two clubs last came together two seasons ago before the visiting club secured promotion to National League Two North, but relegation saw them back in Sandal’s division, writes Howard Newton.

The home side knew they faced a tough task against fourth-placed opponents and had to be at the top of their game if anything was to be gained from the encounter.

In the event it was a game of two halves. The first started well for Sandal, despite playing against the slope, with early pressure being applied. But try as they might a score failed to be posted.

Scunthorpe were awarded a penalty which gave them the opportunity to take possession down field and following good inter-passing and poor Sandal defence their first converted try was scored in the 12th minute.

This score was quickly followed by another to take the lead to 12-0 before Sandal hit back with an Oliver Farrar try in the 23rd minute.

From this point it was downhill, however, as Sandal’s hope of securing a victory were lost in the run up to half-time.

The visitors produced a seven-minute purple patch by adding four more tries, three of which were converted to open up an unassailable 38-5 lead at the interval.

The second half did not augur well for the Sandal side, but whatever they were told at half-time did help them produce a much-improved performance to take the half 19-12 and restore some pride.

The half was only two minutes old when Will Forrest gathered a slipped pass to score in the bottom corner and with Mihali Joannou adding the conversion Sandal were showing signs of recovery having reduced their opponents lead to 38-12.

Using several penalties to advantage the home side made ground well into the Scunthorpe half and from a line-out Karolis Navickas gathered to ran off the set piece to score his maiden try to reduce the deficit again after 53 minutes.

A further 17 minutes then elapsed without a score from either side, proving Sandal’s ability to compete and produce effective defensive play, but as fatigue set in Scunthorpe proved their supremacy by scoring two further tries.

All that was left for Sandal now was to strive to score a fourth try for a bonus point and this they did using to effect penalty kicks to touch. It was in the 80th minute that from a line-out in the visitors 22 a rolling maul was set from which Mihali Joannou received the ball with sufficient room to touch down. Joe Potter added the extras to complete the scoring.

On the upside Sandal’s second half defence application was significant, which had this been shown earlier in the game the final result may have been different. They will be hoping they can take some confidence from this as they look to climb off the bottom of the league. The next game is at Alnwick on November 21.